Toothless Guy & A Bud

On Christmas morning at the in-laws', we did our 2nd Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange, where you can either choose an unwrapped gift or steal from someone else...

Michael's mom, Chris got "To Do" tatoos for her hand & a rubber band shooter.

Jordan got "the Cooties"

David got "Chia Bart"

Nannie got some hot cocoa mix (whew!)

Ben was SUPER EXCITED to get a jumbo Remote Control (too bad we can't figure out how to work it)

Michael's stepfather, Jim opened an insult button. That was really funny & as Ben says, "Inappropriate". The adults had to go into another room to listen to it. :)

I got this adorable sock monkey.

Electronic Blackjack for Meg.

Jenny like her commemorative Obama plate.

Michael stole the insult button from Jim, so Jim ended up with the windup chasing Nuns instead.

Last but not least, Michael's brother, Rob got a Redneck's Took Kit (duct tape, super glue & WD-40). This was actually something I put together. I was pretty impressed with myself when I came up with the idea at Walgreen's on Christmas Eve morning. I'm thinking I had to have heard this idea somewhere, but I don't know where, so I'm going to claim it as my own, for now. I made this cute little scrapblog picture as "cover art" for it.

Nothing says Christmas like a toothless guy & a Bud.

Note: Michael's family are NOT rednecks. Although they live in the south now, they are actually Yankee transplants from Massachusetts. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

When Times Are Tough...

In these tough economic times, everyone appreciates a gift from the heart. Homemade gifts mean so much, especially when they are customized. Michael's stepbrother, David & his wife Jenny gave these lovely slippers to each of the women in the family...including Nannie, Michael's 93 year-old grandmother. They are lovely & will prevent slipping ... just peel off the strip on the bottom of the pad...er, I mean sole.

100th post

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog lately. I've been stymied by 2 things: 1) The holidays, obviously~ we've had a lot of fun with family & friends, still have "Christmas" with my parents on New Year's Day. 2) This is my 100th post... gotta make it good, right?! I guess this blog has become part of the family, what with a "birthday" within 3 days of a holiday, just like my kiddos...


I wanted to do some kind of "100 List" for this post & I think I've posted enough random facts for a lifetime, so I Googled "100 Things" for inspiration as to what type of list to post & found out that there's a movement to limit your personal belongings to 100 things... I can see the beauty in that, because I am in a constant state of trying to simplify our lives, but I don't think I could ever accomplish it. I'm not including humans or animals in my list, but I'm going to try to think of 100 things I couldn't (or wouldn't want to) live without...


1. Computer w/ internet access (Duh!)... this contains all my digital photos, address book & recipes, so it covers a lot of bases

2. My camera (w/accessories...SD card, battery charger, etc.)

3. Refrigerator

4. Washer/Dryer (I'm counting them as a single item now, may change that as I go along)

5. An automobile

6. My cell phone

7. 2-Ply Toilet paper (I'm just brainstorming here)

8. Oven/Stove

9. My glasses (or my camera, computer & automobile would be useless, I'm legally blind w/o them)

10. A pair of tennis shoes

11. A pair of flip flops (a pair of shoes only counts as 1 item, in my book)

12. Shorts

13. Shorts

14. Shorts

15. A pair of jeans (I live in FL, no need to overdo the pants thing)

16. T-shirt

17. T-shirt

18. T-shirt

19. T-shirt

20. Gators sweatshirt

21. Noles sweatshirt (house divided & all)

22. Underwear ( As many as I want, I'm only counting them as 1)

23. A dress

24. A pair of capris

25. A pair of dressy sandals

26. Shampoo

27. Conditioner (I ran out this morning in the shower, it didn't go well... I NEED conditioner)

28. Soap

29. A buff or washcloth

30. A set of my big fluffy towels

31. My Temperpedic mattress (How I CRAVE it when we're out of town)

32. A good set of knives

33. My jumbo Circulon Skillet

34. My Pampered Chef Baking Stone

35. At least one big wine glass ( I LOVE my red wine in my big glass)

36. A good picture of Michael & I together (those are few & far between, he's super photogenic...me? notsomuch!)

37, My parents' wedding picture

38-40. 3 photo albums, each featuring the best pics of each of my kids through the years. ( I really need to put some of those together)

41. Lipstick

42. Socks

43. TV w/ cable & a DVR (I'm counting those as 1 also...sue me!)

44. The throne (my super duper soccer chair with a cooler in one of the armrests...it's really cool, but heavy)

45. A baseball cap

46. My Nike Golf umbrella

47. My Pampered Chef garlic press

48. My ipod

49. A good set of earphones for said ipod (I haven't found any yet...they all hurt my ears)

50. A good docking station for ipod (so I can share my favorite tunes with the world)

51. My engagement/wedding rings

52. My gold cross I got for my confirmation in 1984. I still wear it almost daily

53. My HS yearbooks, I still love to look through them a few times a year

54. A Dobie sponge for hand washing dishes (I've tried other sponges, but IMO Dobie is superior)

55. Britney, my hairbrush (Yes, as in Britney Spears... it's an old hairbrush the girls got as part of a Britney Spears hairbrush/comb set way back when... I really liked the brush & now it belongs to me)

56. My Sonicare toothbrush (& charger) & toothpaste

57. My "mac n cheese" casserole dish. (It's both my girls' favorite meal...Ben won't eat it... I always make it in the same boring brown nothingspecial casserole dish, which both of my girls want to inherit, so I guess I better keep it)


58. Our U-G-L-Y but comfy Bucs blanket (It's that black super fluffy velour...ugly as sin, but we all fight over it when it's cold)


59. My Fiskar's paper trimmer


60. A good pair of scissors


61. My all in 1 printer/scanner

62. Love, Actually DVD


63. The Nativity set my grandmother bought Michael & I for our first Christmas


64. My cooking utensil "bucket" & all of it's contents


65. Our gas grill


66. Our gas grill accessory cantainer & all of it's contents


67. A library card (I rarely go to the library now, but if I only had 100 possessions, I would definitely need one)


68. A good pillow

69. Mousse

70. My curling iron

71. Ironing board/Iron (shouldn't have to waste 2 items on ironing, for goodness sake, so I will bundle them)

72. My stadium chair (save the buns!)

73. Razor

74. Tweezers

75. Gloves (yes, I know I live in FL, but I sit through some cold soccer games)

76. Bible

77. External hard drive (to save all my pics & recipes)

78. Niquil (a must have when I'm sick)

79. Ibuprophen

80. Lotion

81. A set of dishes

82. A set of drinking glasses

83. Deck of cards

84. Deck of cards (our favorite games call for 2 decks)

85. Trivial Pursuit (at least a set of the cards, for funnsies)

86. A clip on reading light (the one we bought Ben for his bday has come in really handy, the light part is really bendable & lights tight spaces)

87. A Nintendo Gameboy

88. Tetris for the Gameboy

89. A watch

90. A hammer

91. A Phillips-head screwdriver (I'm oh-so-handy, doncha know?)

92. A regular screwdriver (is there another name for that?)

93. My Vera Bradley little wallet thingy & all its contents

94. Pony-tail holders (!!!)

95. An apron (I've already told you I'm the world's messiest cook, if I'm dealing with a limited wardrobe, the apron would be a must)

96. Sunscreen

97. My leather jacket

98. My little red notebook (I use this for my lists... things to do, grocery, ideas, etc)

99. MyLife.doc notebook the girls gave me for Christmas... I need to get to work on that

100. A good pen

Two days later... I've finally finished my list. I'm sure I could've done a little better with it, but I wanted to post SOMETHING before my mother starts nagging me. *Hi Mom!* Hope I didn't put you to sleep.

I should be back to my normal, bloggy self soon.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

The children are nestled, with sugarplums. Santa has made his deliveries to the Beth's Blog family. I never thought it would get done, but miraculously it did. Every year it's a Christmas miracle, I tell ya!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas tomorrow! See you on the other side!

Wow!

Just found this on Happy Meals & Happy Hour's blog. Beautiful & powerful. It reminds me just how much I love my friends.

Tis the Season

It's finally beginning to feel like Christmas around here...

Here are some of the decorations in the living room. While not formal by any means, it's a little "shinier" than the family room...

The family room is more fun. Pooh & Tigger have been around here forever. This litte tree was actually our first Christmas tree from our first little apartment back in the day. It's held up pretty well. The garland looks like candy, it's from my grandmother's tree on my dad's side. I always thought it was so fun.

Every year, Barnaby, the Christmas Elf leaves the kids outfits for their Christmas card picture, some other goodies & an ornament that usually represents something that they've loved or done in the past year. It's fun to see how their tastes & interests have changed through the years. We have lots of movies represented...Megan was obsessed with The Lion King when she was 4, Jordan spent most of her childhood watching the Wizard of Oz, Ben was enthralled with the Polar Express. We've got Buzz Lightyear, Harry Potter, American Girls, Beanie Babies, superheroes, graduation caps, Gators, Seminoles and, of course, LOTS of soccer balls.

Boy! I needed that!

This morning I woke a feeling a little better, but I'm still pretty stressed out. After I got the laundry started, emptied the dishwasher, showered, wrapped the teacher's gifts, made Ben breakfast & took Ben to school, I took a few minutes to check in with my bloggy friends. Katie had a link to this. Which totally made me happy. I had seen it last year, but had forgotten about it. Then I went to Kimba's blog & got a dose of EXACTLY what I needed. All over the blog-o-sphere, I've seen beautiful pictures of everyone's homes decorated to the nines... while I still had concrete floors. Not good for the self-esteem.

While I feel better, I still need to get some decorating done & Jordan's got a game an hour away at 2, so no time to dawdle...

Carpet peeps

Okay, what do you do when there are workmen (or women) taking up the majority of your house? Do you putter? Follow them around? Watch TV? Surf the net? The carpet installers have been here since just after 9. It's just after 2 now. I can't get to my kitchen or laundry. So I have spent the day in front of the TV with my computer on my lap. I've watched Regis, Private Practice, The View & P.S. I Love You. I'm all caught up on my bloggy friends, my Facebook friends & my emails. I've earned 2 "Badges" on Pogo.com. I have a fairly small house. They are carpeting 2 rooms, a (very small) linen closet & a hallway. What is taking so freaking long?! I have so much to do!!! Starting with a shower...

But I really like the carpet.

Sorry...

For the Bah Humbug post. The carpet installers are here, the end is in sight. Here's our Christmas card picture to show that I'm not a total Grinch...

7 Days & Counting

8 days until THE BIG DAY and I am waiting for the carpet installers to arrive at my doorstop any minute now. Seriously. A few months ago we had a leak in our A/C & it ruined our floors. We pulled up the ruined flooring (faux wood laminate) & have been living with some exposed concrete in our hall... Michael & I are a wee bit indecisive (you so don't want to be in a car with us when we are trying to decide where to eat when we are out of town, or in town for that matter), so we have been debating what to do.

The flooring we had was discontinued (of course) and the hall leads into the family room, which leads into the dining room. The way the floorplan is laid out, it was hard to find a good transition point where we could keep our old (2 year old) flooring for at least a portion of it. We finally decided we had to replace it all & we would go back to carpet. We ordered the carpet the day after Thanksgiving, thinking we would get it in in a week or so, but between our 2 weekends out of town & trying to catch our saleman on his rare non day off, we have had to wait until today to have installed.

Problem is, due to the large area being carpeted, I have not decorated for Christmas yet, AT ALL! Oh yeah, & I'm not even close to being done with my shopping. And I haven't wrapped one thing. And the kids will be home after tomorrow. And Jordan's high school team [Pardon the interuption... Mickey Rourke is on the Today Show... FA-REAK!!!] is in a tournament this weekend. And Jordan's BFF is coming from Chicago to stay with us on Monday through Christmas morning. And one of our friends from the old soccer gang is in town for the holidays, so I want to have the gang over for a get together before next Sunday.

Every year, I swear it will be different, yet every year I'm a crazed maniac in Full Bah Humbug Mode. This is not what I want the holidays to be. I just want to get things done early so I can relax & enjoy my family & friends and remember the reason for the season, yet it never happens until Christmas morning. Next year...

Sorry, I didn't mean to lay this bummer blog post out there into the blog-o-sphere, I just needed to vent a little... I'll be better when my carpet is down & I can just get started...

For Once, A Reason to Look Forward to Monday...

Thank Goodness For Little Boys

Take a little bit of "bed head"...

Add a UF beanie (Timmy was ROBBED, btw...)

And this is what you get!

Ya gotta love little boys!

Have you seen it?

I'm loving me the cover of the new SI that just came in the mail. It might be the first SI to ever end up on my bedside table. Right next to the 3rd Twilight book I'm about start reading. Edward? Timmy? Edward? Timmy?

Morning Movie

I'm going to my Morning Movie today. I haven't been in a few months. I'm going to see Twilight. I love the books, but haven't heard great things about the movie. I figure it's got to be better than cleaning house & doing laundry though, so it's all good. I'm going to do a little Christmas shopping after, so it won't be a totally unproductive day.

Honestly...

I've been tagged by Joanne...

The rules are simple.

1. Show the icon on your blog
2. Tag seven people to partake in the fun times (or in my case, 4)
3. List 10 random things about yourself.

Here goes it:

1. All 3 of my kids were born within 3 days of a holiday. Megan was 3 days after Valentine's Day, Jordan 2 days after New Year's & Ben was 2 days before Thanksgiving.
2. Last year, I waited until Michael & the kids were asleep, then drove myself to the hospital when I was having a gall bladder attack. I had "diagnosed" myself using WebMD, but didn't want anyone to lose sleep if I was wrong. I was right & had surgery the next morning. I had left Michael a note & called him when I was being admitted.
3. I'm too busy for Christmas this year. I think it should be postponed a month or so.
4. I would love to be a photographer when I grow up.
5. I love to cook, but I am an absolute SLOB in the kitchen. You can tell when dinner is done because I have dirtied every bowl & utensil I own & you can't find the counter top.
6. Michael usually cleans the kitchen after dinner. :)
7. My favorite movies are Love Actually & 3 Weddings and a Funeral. I can watch them over & over... although I don't think the "movie making" couple in Love Actually needed to be included. I would love to watch it with my girls, but that would be awkward.
8. I love the sunshine & get very depressed on rainy days like today.
9. I've never had an athletic bone in my body. In 6th grade, we played volleyball in P.E. practically the whole year & I always "over served" and the ball would go behind me. Eventually, the coach stopped trying to correct me & just had me turn around and serve with my back to the net.
10. My husband was in my P.E. class in 6th grade & remembers that perhaps even more vividly than I do.

I tag:
Proof Positive
Beehive Five
Peeptoe Pumps and Pearls
Sasha Says

Ho! Ho! Ho?

Okay, I think I'm sufficiently thawed out from our trip to Raleigh. Here's a recap of some of our adventures...

First of all, Michael & I had no intention of going to this tournament. We've been there, done that & spent all of the money... we thought we would just fly Jordan up & have her room along with a teammate. We are new to this team, but with previous teams the girls have played on, with tournaments like this that involve so much travel and expense, this happens often. One mom or dad will take responsibility for 2 or 3 extra girls for the weekend, then you split the costs. Apparently that's not how this team operates & no one could/would keep Jordan, so we decided to drive.



One of her teammates (who miraculously found someone to room with) doesn't like to fly, so we offered to bring her up with us. Although Jordan has made some good friends on the team, she's somewhat shy & hasn't gotten to know this particular girl very well. I'm also pretty reserved & find it hard to start a conversation with someone I don't know very well, but once I know someone, I don't think they would ever guess that about me. I'm not TOO worried about it though, because Michael is really outgoing and an excellent conversationalist & I know he will break the ice & the car ride will be full of fun, music & witty conversation.



At the last minute, Michael has a meeting at work on Thursday & will have to fly up Friday morning. UGH! Okay, so I couldn't sleep Wednesday night trying to think of some good conversation starters ( I know it's silly, she's a 16 year old girl, for goodness sake, but I really wanted to be a fun mom & have a fun ride). I get the car loaded & go to the parking lot where we are meeting "said teammate" & her mom... her mom loads up "said teammate's" things into my car while "said teammate" texts on her phone. As we head out of the parking lot, I try to start one of my witty conversations, but "said teammate" already has her headphones in & is listening to her ipod. IN THE FREAKING PARKING LOT! Over the next hour or so, I tried several times to talk to her, but all I got in response was "huhs?" & "whats?", so I stopped trying & Jordan & I had our own conversation. I know that at some in the 10 hour drive, her ipod had to have run out of power, but she kept that damn thing in the WHOLE time! I know I should be an adult about it, but once we got to the hotel, I had a hard time even being civil to her. I have no problem with teenagers tuning out once in awhile with their headset, but geez! at least get allow a little time for some interaction before you do. Who knows? She might have liked us...I had some good stuff planned... now we'll never know. We had a stop to make on the way back & she was anxious to get home, so we arranged for get a ride back with another family.

On Saturday night, we went to a really cool bar & grill in downtown Raleigh with a couple of Jordan's teammates & their dads to have dinner & watch the Gators game (GO GATORS!). As we are arriving, we notice a few guys there dressed kind of "Christmas-y" and, shall we say a little less than masculine-like. One of them was wearing a (very short) kilt & then there was this guy... with the white furry platform boots.



Okay, so no big deal. Jordan is pretty straight-laced, but we figure she's almost 17, she can handle a few "happy" Santas. The girls had a table in the middle & the dads & I were a few tables away by the wall. About 10 minutes after we got settled in, we noticed that the girls were becoming surrounded by "happy" Santas & their friends...

and then there were more...

Apparently, there was lots of drinking & a costume contest to go along with this get together & from what the girls could gather, a real-life stripper won for the Sluttiest Santa. AWESOME! Then, POOF! as quickly as they appeared, the Santas left the building enmasse to go to the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey game. Who would've thought?!

Oh yeah! We were there for soccer. This was a College Showcase, where the college coaches come to find recruits and the girls "showed" really well. Jordan was the only one there from her team that was already "committed" to a college, but I think there will be lots of offers made to the other girls after this weekend. I have lots of pictures of the soccer too, but I won't bore you with too many. Here's a picture of the grass covered with thick frost on Saturday morning...

as the sun came out the frost melted and the ground became slippery. That's the only reason I can think of for my little baby to behave in such unlady-like behavior as this (she's #4 in the red)...

There was more, but I've rambled on quite enough for today. Joanne tagged me for a 10 Random Things About Me post, I'll get right on that... tomorrow.

Swap

Last night when I got home, I had a package waiting for me from my Clemsongirl and the Coach Christmas Swap partner, Jill. A Christmas note pad, some Christmas hand towels, a peppermint candle & some chocolate covered pretzels to share with my family (yeah, right!). All of it is so cute! She also included a really cute Christmas-y serving dish, that, unfortunately, didn't survive the journey from Texas too well. :( Thank you Jill, for all my goodies & thank you Clemsongirl for putting it all together. It was my first swap & a lot of fun!

More about our trip later...

Chomp! Chomp!

We made it home safe and sound. I've got lots to post about...tomorrow, perhaps. In the meantime,

It's great to be the (mom of) a Florida Gator!